Polio’s Last Stand

By

Saleh Yamusa

Kano

yamusasaleh@hotmail.com

No sooner had I finished reading a special report on polio vaccine in Weekly Trust, August 9 – 15, 2003 than I recalled a document carrying the above headline, which I got from an international journal, Nature, January 18, 2001. I had no ado finding the document from where I kept it; likewise dusting it and reading it.

The science journal published an article, which elucidated the potential dangers of oral polio vaccine (OPV). The article came up as a result of an investigation conducted by researchers, from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) vis-à-vis the discovery of signs of polio in children from the Dominican Republic, a region certified polio-free by the PAHO in 1994. Further investigation confirmed OPV as the prime culprit, “…laboratory analysis confirmed that the virus infecting the Dominican children was polio, but it was not a wild strain. Instead, it was a mutant form of a live virus from the OPV, used to stamp out the wild strains in the first place.”

It is clear that the virus, deliberately weakened for use in the vaccine, had regained the ability to cause an outbreak of polio disease. A reason the World Health Organization (WHO) gave to revisit its polio eradication plan using OPV.

Among the solutions to this problem under observation as provided by WHO is, “…a relatively simple – albeit difficult to organize – coup de grâce: a coordinated withdrawal of OPV on the same day worldwide.” Another solution is provision of another vaccine, “needed to maintain people’s immunity to polio while the OPV strains die out. Right now, the only available candidate is the Salk inactivated polio vaccine (IPV). This requires only one dose, confers immunity to all types of polio, and, because it is made from dead virus, cannot cause disease.”

Nature pointed out some serious drawbacks of IPV for use in developing countries. “First, it does not trigger mucosal immunity in the gut…. Second, it must be injected, meaning that it must be administered by trained health workers, rather than unqualified volunteers. And there is currently no industrial capacity to produce the vaccine on the scale required.” But, I believe with the level of unlimited resources, both human and material, we have in Nigeria, reverting to the use of IPV in the effort to immunize our children against polio will not be a big task.

The clarion call made by the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN) on government to investigate the safety of the OPV, as regards to the speculations that the vaccine contains AIDS virus and infertility-causing substances. I know it is possible to inoculate HIV and other substances in someone’s blood via a vaccine. So I commend SCSN for its courage. Something must be done, now!

As a recent graduate in Microbiology, I consider my self as an embryo in the academic sphere, yet I feel I have a piece of advice to give. First, let the government set up a strong and reliable committee of experts to investigate the veracity of the fact that such vaccine contains so and so substances. Second, let the authorities imitate other developed countries and sponsor immunization program using IPV, however expensive, instead of OPV, for it poses no danger as indicated above. Third, let them encourage our experts to start producing the vaccine here in Nigeria, so as to divert any suspicion of the presence of obnoxious substances, as it is the case with the imported one. Fourth, let there be a favourable condition for our scientists to investigate and develop a more safer, cheaper and reliable vaccine through, for example, processes of genetic engineering.

But with the current trend of democratic collapse in Nigeria as explained by Anambra political coup, fuel price increase, unprecedented level of corruption and privatization charade combined with other nation’s economic doldrums, I am afraid if the authorities will not turn a blind eye on the issue. But forewarned, they say is to be forearmed.

It would therefore be a very great benefit to those in power, honourable to their positions and delightful to the populace if they (the authorities) take the issue with all seriousness and commitment.

But as always, the burning question begun to flicker in one’s acute mind, do they ever hear?